


Looking (Respectfully)

by lil_sauce



Category: Haikyuu!!, ハイパープロジェクション演劇「ハイキュー!!」| Hyper Projection Play "Haikyuu!!" RPF
Genre: 1000 years, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, BokuAka Week, BokuAka Week 2020, Coffee, Coffee Shops, College, First Dates, First Kiss, First Meetings, If You Squint - Freeform, Love Confessions, M/M, Music, Mutual Pining, Staring, akaashi sings, and hes so good, big simp energy, bokuaka supremacy, dunkin donuts supremacy, gift cards, may be a preview for a future fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:13:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25628764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lil_sauce/pseuds/lil_sauce
Summary: For months, Bokuto has been starting at this pretty guy in his Biology lecture hall.  Little does he know that he works at the Dunkin' Donuts a few blocks from his school, which he doesn't find out until one fateful morning.Akaashi Keiji has been looking at this golden beam of energy for a while.  The way the light hits him, it's something special.  When he meets this guy in person at a Dunkin' Donuts, he's already obsessed with him.So what happens when they finally meet up?{aka: the one where Bokuto and Akaashi are in college and they meet at a Dunkin' Donuts} {for BokuAka Week days 1-3}
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji & Bokuto Koutarou, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, BokuAka
Kudos: 23
Collections: Bokuaka Week 2020





	Looking (Respectfully)

**Author's Note:**

> ok guys!! uhhh so it's bokuaka week and I procrastinated too much to write nine fics!! so this fic counts for days 1-3 because it technically has all three promps in it (confessions/coffee shop, college, mutual pining)
> 
> I have two bokuaka playlists I'm going to drop on my blog (@sauceyhomo) for days 4 and 5! one's a sad pining akaashi playlist (specifically for a fic I'm posting on the last day) and the other is just a general bokuaka playlist I made!
> 
> day 6 and 7 will be little poems (bokuto pov of akaashi and vice versa) that will get uploaded here!
> 
> day 8 will be a manga panel that will go up on my blog (@sauceyhomo) and I won't be doing anything for day 9 because I'll be busy.
> 
> day 10 I'm uploading a bigger fic that's based on a headcanon that I and my friend came up with

_ Monday, December 5. 8:44am _

Koutarou Bokuto parked his car and walked into the Dunkin Donuts a half-mile from his University. He normally was one to go to the Starbucks down the road a few blocks over, but he realized last night that he had a gift card to Dunkin that was about to expire in the next few days.

So he thought to himself that night, “Hey, even though I don’t go to Dunkin normally, I should still spend this gift card. It’s free money, so I might as well use it.”

And so he did.

Maybe doing so the week before exams wasn’t the greatest idea, which Bokuto also contemplated that same night. Shaking up your routine too close to an important event, such as university finals, could maybe make that even worse. It’s like switching your starting setter during a big game against a strong opposing team, Bokuto realized. The energy and tone of the match shifts.

However, that shift isn’t necessarily bad, which he was also about to realize.

He opened the door and heard the sleigh bells jingle as he stepped inside. Instrumental, jazzy Christmas music was playing all throughout the store. He walked over and got in line with the rest of the workers and college students in the shop.

As he drew closer and closer to the front, he realized how stressful exams were going to be. It was not only Bokuto’s first day of exams, but it was also his third set of exams at a university. 

High school exams and university exams were very different species. High school exams were like a poison dart frog. Not necessarily dangerous outright, but can be if approached the wrong way. However, college exams were like a pack of hyenas, carefully planning their method of destruction, and ganging up on you until you can’t escape their attacks on you. They were far more of a threat outright than high school exams were. 

High school exams were avoidable and they could be easily circumvented by getting good grades during the year, in order to lower the score needed on your final exam to keep an A in the class. However, college exams were often worth way more of your grade than high school exams. Second round of fall exams; he had already been at university for a year.

By now, however, Bokuto’s at the front of the line.

A warm-sounding baritone voice greeted him at the counter. “Hi, can I take your order?”

Bokuto looked at the person behind the counter and was taken aback for a moment, but quickly regained himself.

_ Damn, _ Bokuto thought to himself.

His black messy hair, his lean muscular arms, his clear face, his dark eyes, everything just made Bokuto’s brain go a million miles a minute. He had to stop looking; people would think he’s staring. 

But he didn’t want to stop looking. 

But he had to, so he tilted his head down a bit. 

Bokuto quickly realized that was a bad idea and moved his eyes towards the menu behind him.

“Uh, can I just have a medium caramel latte, please? Hot?”

“Yeah, of course. Your total is 370 yen.”

Bokuto nodded, avoiding another round of eye contact and swiping his gift card. “Thank you so much,” he said.

“Have a great day.”

“You too!”

However, Bokuto couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d seen that guy before, somewhere else. He made it his personal goal for the week, outside of doing well on exams, to figure out who this guy was and from where Bokuto knew him.

_ Wednesday, December 7. 8:46am _

The way that Bokuto’s exam schedule worked out, he had no tests the next day, but he went back to Dunkin Donuts on Wednesday, the day after, to not only wear out his gift card more, but to see that guy again.

When he got to the store and got in line, he thought about how to keep himself composed around him.

_ It’s okay, just take a deep breath. Don’t get too flustered… just let yourself act natural around him. Deep breaths… _

“Hi.”

The person in front of him spoke to give his order, and his voice sounded just like the one of the cashier from Monday. Almost the exact same, as a matter of fact.

Bokuto took a moment to process this before smoothly giving his order to the teenage girl now behind the counter.

He walked over to the other side of the store to wait for his drink, and saw the guy again, this time out of uniform. He wore black-framed rectangular glasses and a long jacket with a scarf over the top.

Bokuto stretched his broad shoulders out behind him and yawned. He was still half-asleep. Hopefully this coffee was going to wake him up.

“Still tired?” a voice asked again.

Bokuto turned to see the guy from Monday looking at him intently. He jumped a little bit, but quickly nodded. 

“Do you have exams now?” he asked. “Which ones?”

Bokuto nodded in reply again. “Biology in an hour, Psych in the afternoon.”

“Are we in the same Biology lecture? Tuesday thru Friday at 1:00? That one tall guy with circle glasses whose name everybody forgets?”

“Him? Yeah!”

Everything was starting to come together for Bokuto. This guy was in his Biology lecture hall.

_ Is this Bio Guy? I think so. _

Bio Guy was the guy Bokuto had been staring at instead of paying attention during class for most of the semester. He didn’t realize it at first, that he had a crush on him, but he did around Halloween. 

He first thought it was more of a, “Hey, I think he’d be a good friend,” thing at first. But, as time went on, he started to feel a more romantic attraction to him, even though they never spoke.

But his voice? If this was Bio Guy and his voice, Bokuto was head-over-heels in love with him, despite the fact that a few months ago, he didn’t think he could fall in love with another guy.

“What exams do you have?” Bokuto asked Bio Guy.

“Biology, same as you. Classic Literature afterward.”

“Do you want me to help you? We could go to the library and get lunch. I already had my final.”

“What’s your current grade?” he asked.

“Low A,” Bokuto replied. “Is that good enough?”

Bio Guy nodded. “Yeah, I’ll meet you outside of the building to the right.”

“Latte for Akaashi!” someone behind the counter said.

“Oh, that’s me,” Akaashi said quickly. “Good luck!”

“Caramel latte for Bokuto!” the guy said again.

“That’s for me too. Good luck, Akaashi.”

“You too, Bokuto-san.”

_ Wednesday, December 7. 11:51am _

After the exam, Bokuto and Akaashi walked together into the university library to study.

“How did the exam go for you?” Bokuto asked, still struggling to look into Akaashi’s eyes out of fear of looking like  _ that. _

“It went well, I think. I understood everything. Nothing was too hard for me. What about you, Bokuto-san?”

Bokuto beamed.

“I think it went okay… I struggled with bits of it but it overall went well besides those few questions! I studied for a while yesterday because I didn’t have any exams!”

“That’s good,” Akaashi replied with a smile. He gestured over to an open table nearby where they were standing. “Do you want to sit there?”

Bokuto nodded.

“So where did you go to high school?” he asked as he sat down.

“Somewhere small; not that many people know about it. A private school. What about you?”

“Fukurodani Academy.”

“Like the magnet school?”

Akaashi was sitting across from him at this point.

“Yeah,” Bokuto replied. “I played volleyball there, too. It was so fun. I miss it a lot.”

“I used to play as well, actually,” Akaashi added. 

“What position?”

“Setter.”

“Would you want to join intramurals with me in the spring?” Bokuto asked. “And we could practice a ton over the winter! It’d be so fun!”

“Sure!”

Bokuto looked up at Akaashi and smiled. His dark eyes were so inviting, but Bokuto was scared to get lost in them. So he quickly turned his head away and reached into his backpack to grab his notebook.

“Why do you seem scared to look at me?” Akaashi asked.

Bokuto paused.

_ Shit. _

“Well,” he began, “It’s complicated-”

“Ever since Monday at Dunkin, you’ve seemed scared to look at me. Whenever you’ve looked at me since then, you’ve had this look in your eyes. It’s a look of fear, I guess. Like you don’t know how to feel about looking at me?”

“It’s not that… ”

“I’m not stupid, Bokuto-san. I’ve seen you staring at me during lecture halls. Why?”

Bokuto panicked for a moment.

_ What do I say? Something that sounds weird, but not that weird… something that I like his hair? No.. his glasses maybe? Yeah. _

“I like your glasses,” Bokuto said quickly.

“Bullshit,” Akaashi replied. “What’s the real reason?”

Bokuto’s heart started beating faster and faster.  _ He knows, _ he thought.

_ I have to deflect the questioning away from me. _

“Why have you been staring at  _ me  _ though? You go first.”

Akaashi showed a brief expression of panic before quickly returning to his typical blank expression. “How do you--?”

_ It worked, _ Bokuto thought. “I have my ways,” he lied smoothly.

_ I didn’t think that was going to work. _

“Answer the question, though,” he continued.

Now, Bokuto hadn’t seen Akaashi staring at him, but little did he know that Akaashi would stare at him as well, on occasion. There were days that Akaashi was out of Bokuto’s field of vision, and those were the days that Akaashi liked to stare.

Something about Bokuto was just magical to him, for lack of a better term. He wasn’t sure if it was his silver hair, golden eyes, or strong, broad stature. Something about him seemed almost godlike. Silver hair at the young age of 19, all-natural, from Akaashi’s best guess, based on hours of staring. Golden eyes that looked almost surreal to look at, and strong as well! 

To Akaashi, Bokuto seemed too good to be true.

Akaashi knew he liked guys for a while, for far longer than Bokuto’s three months. He’s been around the dating circuit for a while, having two boyfriends during the course of high school. Now, neither relationship had ended up that well, but he still had experience. Akaashi always thought the third time to be the charm for him, but now that seems more likely than he could imagine.

Until Monday, though, he didn’t know if Bokuto’s personality would live up to his looks, but after talking to him from behind the counter, he had a hunch he’d be the one. The amount of energy he had when he talked, his positive attitude, his aura,  _ him. _ Akaashi thought it was all perfect.

Akaashi always thought of people as colors in his head. He saw himself as a navy blue, and his mother as a magenta. His father was a cyan. But Bokuto, he was gold. The golden energy that came from his eyes was so intense and powerful but in an effortless manner. An effortless power like that was something that drew Akaashi in a moth to golden starlight.

“Well,” Akaashi began, face reddening. “I didn’t think you’d know, first off.”

_ I thought my plan was seamless _ , he thought. 

Akaashi’s Plan to Not be Seen by Golden Boy but to see Him consisted of one simple rule: don’t look at Golden Boy unless he’s in front of you. At the time, Akaashi considered Bokuto “Golden Boy” because he didn't know his name, but now he liked the name “Bokuto” much better.

“So? I still want to know,” Bokuto said abruptly, interrupting his thoughts.

Akaashi came back to reality. “Oh,” he said. “I just think you look pretty. I was trying to figure out what hair product you use.”

“I think your hair’s fine,” Bokuto replied. “I was trying to figure out what product you used.”

Their eyes narrowed at each other.

“Sure,” they both said at the same time.

“Wait, do you?” Bokuto asked.

Akaashi nodded. “For a while.”

“Me too,” he replied.

“You look like a star,” Akaashi started. “You shouldn’t be antsy about your hair,” he said with a chuckle.

“A star? What do you mean?”

“You have this golden energy around you,” Akaashi started. “It shines bright and lights up everything around you, sort of like a star.”

“Nobody’s ever thought of me like that… ” Bokuto replied. “Thank you!”

“I need your help though… maybe we can talk afterward for a bit.”

“Oh yeah,” Bokuto remembered. “Let’s get on that.”

_ Wednesday, December 7. 4:26pm _

After their study session and respective afternoon exams, the time was around 4:30 in the early evening. Bokuto met Akaashi outside of his dorm building in his car.

_ I can’t believe we’re actually doing something like this, _ he thought.  _ A date with this guy, Akaashi, who I haven’t stopped staring at for months… it’s incredible! _

Akaashi walked out of his dorm with a small backpack and opened the car door. “Where are we going, Bokuto-san?” he asked as he sat down and shut the door.

Bokuto laughed. “It’s a mystery, isn’t it?”

“Wait, you don’t know where you’re taking me?”

“I was going to have you pick… but I guess you don’t want to.”

“No, I’m down to pick somewhere,” Akaashi replied. “I just don’t know where… ”

“Have you eaten recently?” Bokuto asked.

“We should have dinner a bit later. What if we go for a walk or something first?”

“That sounds fun!” he replied.

As they drove to a nearby nature preserve, they rolled down the front windows of the car and blasted music as loud as they could without damaging their ears. Akaashi stuck his head out the window and let the wind push his hair back. 

Once they arrive at the nature preserve, the sun is already setting. The two get out of the car and decide to start walking in no direction in particular. 

Akaashi can’t take his eyes off Bokuto, seeing the golden sky accent his golden eyes as they walk in the forest. The way the sun breaks into the ground below them makes Bokuto look unreal, like a star from heaven.

Akaashi starts humming as they walk, quietly in order to make sure Bokuto can’t hear him that well. He’s always scared about having people hear that he sings. The idea of having people listen to him sings scares him. Akaashi just wants to sing a song at the top of his lungs and release all of his emotions with nobody around to judge him. As a result, he has to be rather careful when he has the urge to sing or hum.

However, in this case, he’s not careful enough, and Bokuto picks up on his humming, and hums along with Akaashi. The two continue walking in the woods, humming the song together, until Akaashi subconsciously starts to quietly sing. Bokuto stops humming to listen to him.

_ “ _ _ Time stands still _

_ Beauty in all he is _

_ I will be brave _

_ I will not let anything, take away _

_ What's standing in front of me _

_ Every breath, every hour has come to this. _ _ ” _

“You sound good, Akaashi,” Bokuto remarks. “Really good… ”

Akaashi quickly stops singing, worried about Bokuto’s reaction. He goes quiet.

“Keep going,” Bokuto urges him. “I want to hear the rest.”

Akaashi takes a deep breath.

_ “ _ _ I have died every day, waiting for you _

_ Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years _

_ I'll love you for a thousand more. _ _ ” _

He feels the euphoria that he gets from singing pulse through his body. The inner peace he gets from singing his emotions out takes over him. Akaashi realizes that Bokuto won’t judge his voice. Why else would he tell him to continue? He resists the urge to stop out of fear, and continues to sing, this time with more conviction in his voice than before.

_ “ _ _ And all along I believed, I would find you _

_ Time has brought your heart to me, I have loved you for a thousand years _

_ I'll love you for a thousand more. _ _ ” _

Akaashi stops right after singing this and begins looking at Bokuto’s golden eyes for a response. Anything, really, just a sign that he’s not scared of him. What Akaashi sang was from his heart, and how he felt about Bokuto. It was kind of quick, yes, but there was this instinct in Akaashi’s brain that Bokuto was the One. He wanted to let him know how he felt, but Akaashi struggled to find the right words. So he used songs instead.

He just hoped Bokuto felt the same way about him.

“Your voice is so pretty,” Bokuto began. “It’s so nice to listen to. I can’t sing all too well, but if I could, and I knew the lyrics to what you were singing, I’d be singing with you.”

“You would?”

“Probably,” he answered.

Akaashi smiled. “Thank you, Bokuto-san. I think you’re great.”

“Me too.”

The two had stopped walking by now, and just stood talking to each other. “You look even more like a star here than ever,” Akaashi said. “I just want to look at you for a bit, if you don’t mind.”

“I just want to look at you for a bit, too, actually.”

The two stared at each other for a moment, getting lost in each other’s eyes.

Neither of them was fully aware of themselves, however, so they slowly ended up walking towards each other. Lost in each other’s glances, they weren’t aware of this until they bumped against each others’ chests.

They both came out of their trance and jumped a little bit when they made contact. They looked at each other again and smiled.

“What time is it?” Akaashi asked.

Bokuto looked at his gold-coated watch. “5:15. Do you want to go back and start looking for a place for dinner?”

Akaashi nodded, and the two began walking back to Bokuto’s car.

_ Wednesday, December 7, 5:32 pm _

“Where do you want to go?” Bokuto asked. “I don’t really have a preference.”

“I don’t know.”

“What if we went to my apartment and cooked something?” Bokuto asked. “We could go to a grocery store and get some ingredients and cook something. What would you want to cook?”

“Rapeseed plants, maybe. What about protein, though? We could make some onigiri as well...”

“What if we made beef skewers with rapeseed plants? And little tiny onigiri!!”

“Oh, that’d be fun. Let’s do that!” Akaashi replied.

“Great,” Bokuto said as he parked the car outside a nearby market. The two hopped out and grabbed all of the ingredients they needed for their plan, based on recipes Akaashi found on the internet.

They split paying for the food and then drove back to Bokuto’s apartment, a few minutes from the university they were attending. As they unloaded the groceries, they looked at the time, 6:08 pm.

After spending an hour and a half trying to cook dinner, the two ate and sat and talked for a while.

“So,” Bokuto said, initiating the conversation. “Why do you think I’m pretty enough to be stared at?”

Akaashi shrugged. “I just think you look really pretty. Your eyes, in particular. They’re all golden and shiny. It’s like I can’t look away from them,” he said. “Why would you stare at me?”

“I just thought you were a model,” Bokuto replied. “You had that sort of look about yourself. Like a pretty boy.”

“You’re one of those too,” Akaashi replied.

Bokuto gave him a look. “That’s just your opinion. You’re clearly the better-looking one.”

Akaashi laughed. “No, you.”

Bokuto smiled. “Keep lying to yourself.”

“I’m good, handsome,” Akaashi replied.

“So we’re dating now?”

“If you want to.”

“Yeah, of course, I do,” Bokuto answered. “Do you wanna watch a movie?”

Akaashi nodded. “Sure.”

They got up and walked over to the couch in Bokuto’s apartment and sat under a blanket together. Bokuto reached out and grabbed the television remote and turned it on.

“What movie do you want to watch?”

“Any,” Akaashi replied. “Just pick something and go with it. I trust you.” He leaned his head onto Bokuto’s shoulder.

Bokuto blushed and turned on Netflix.

“Have you seen  _ Klaus? _ It’s Western, I think, but it’s supposed to be really good! Do you wanna watch that?”

“I think that it doesn’t matter if it’s good or not,” Akaashi replied. “We can still make it fun, Bokuto-san.”

With that, Bokuto started the movie. The two sat under the same blanket, on the same couch, in the same apartment, in the same city. They were together now, apparently, and although it was kind of sudden for both of them, neither was worried. They felt at ease with their new partners, like they knew in their hearts that this relationship would work marvelously.


End file.
